Deep Album Cuts Vol. 380: Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker is one of 2025's nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Bad Company, the Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Mana, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden, and the White Stripes.
2. Change In Louise
3. Do I Still Figure In Your Life?
4. That's Your Business
5. Dear Landlord
6. Hello, Little Friend
7. Give Peace A Chance (live)
8. Space Captain (live)
9. She Don't Mind
10. I Get Mad
11. Performance
12. Lucinda
13. Born Thru Indifference
14. Worrier
15. I Can't Say No
16. Marie
17. Come On In
18. Don't Drink The Water
19. Satisfied
20. You Know It's Gonna Hurt
21. Hitchcock Railway (live)
Tracks 1, 2, and 3 from With A Little Help From My Friends (1969)
Tracks 4, 5, and 6 from Joe Cocker! (1969)
Tracks 7 and 8 from Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1970)
Track 9 from Joe Cocker a.k.a. Something To Say (1972)
Tracks 10 and 11 from I Can Stand A Little Rain (1974)
Track 12 from Jamaica Say You Will (1975)
Tracks 13 and 14 from Stingray (1976)
Track 15 from Luxury You Can Afford (1978)
Track 16 from Sheffield Steel (1982)
Track 17 from Civilized Man (1984)
Track 18 from Cocker (1986)
Track 19 from Unchain My Heart (1987)
Track 20 from One Night Of Sin (1989)
Track 21 from Joe Cocker Live (1990)
I was a little surprised by Joe Cocker's nomination. He died about a decade ago, and it feels like his hits and his overall style are even further out of fashion now than they were then. He's considered more of an 'interpreter' than an artist, because while he did write songs, virtually every song he's known for is a cover. He could really sing the hell out of some songs and make them his own, though. There are plenty of good Beatles covers, and a few I like as much as original, but "With a Little Help From My Friends" may be the only Beatles cover that I think blows the original out of the water. Of course, I probably watched a hundred episodes of "The Wonder Years" before I ever listened to Sgt Pepper's, so I would say that.
So I made an effort to highlight Cocker the songwriter here, and the songs he wrote (often with his pianist Chris Stainton) on this playlist are "Sandpaper Cadillac," "Change in Louise," "That's Your Business," "She Don't Mind," "Something To Say," "I Get Mad," and "Born Thru Indifference." In addition to his famous Beatles covers, Cocker also frequently covered Bob Dylan ("Dear Landlord") and Randy Newman ("Lucinda" and "Marie"). Cocker was the first person to release Allen Toussaint's "Performance," later recorded by Aaron Neville, Dobie Gray, and others.
Cocker is one of those '70s acts whose highest charting album in the U.S. was a live record, and Mad Dogs & Englishmen is pretty killer. Leon Russell, who wrote "Hello, Little Friend" and the hit "Delta Lady" for Cocker's second studio album, was the musical director of that tour, and it included a song he wrote with Bramlett that has never been released elsewhere called "Give Peace a Chance" (not to be confused with the Lennon song of the same name). Russell discovered Matthew Moore, who sang backing vocals on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour and wrote the fantastic song "Space Captain," and would continue to write songs for Cocker for many years after, including "Worrier," which has an Eric Clapton guitar solo and great backing vocals by Bramlett. His brother Daniel Moore also wrote songs for Cocker, including "I Can't Say No."
I think it's kind of funny that he released an album called Joe Cocker! and followed it with an album called Joe Cocker -- fittingly, the one with no exclamation point was less successful. My mom had the Joe Cocker Live album in the early '90s, and that was my first exposure to his music outside of "The Wonder Years." It may not be as good as Mad Dogs & Englishmen but I like that record and figured I'd end the playlist with something from that, although he continued to record many more records for a couple decades after that.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 28, 2025 at 11:41 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
No comment
Post a Comment